I heard a woman from Sderot on the radio crying (yes, crying) about how she wants to move out, and just wants the government to pay her so she can afford to flee (my word, she did not say flee). If, she said, there are more rocket attacks, she may just have to abandon her house (since there's no real real estate market these days in Sderot apparently) and move in with relatives.

Now, if I were of the Arabic terrorist persuation, this would be extremely encouraging news to me.

If those in Kiryat Sh'moneh had spent their time whining, it would probably have encouraged Hezbollah to continue what they're doing.

Of course, the proper response for a government official (or anyone with an ounce of compassion) is not to berate your own citizens, but to actually do something to protect them, but hey, this is Peres we're talking about.

Mike: Things have changed alot since the 1970s. It used to be considered the correct Zionist response to a terror attack to say, "we're not moving anywhere"...or even build a new settlement/town/etc. Kiryat Shmona used to complain but alot of the people there had this sort of grassroots Zionism within them and never considered leaving.

Things have changed alot -- starting in the early 1990s with the SCUD missiles attacks against Gush Dan, when thousands of Tel-Avivians fled to Eilat and Europe. That sort of Post Zionism was clearly an indication of the Oslo Accord incubation.

Gush Katif people adopted the old-school of Zionist thought and refused to leave and had to be dragged out. 5000 rockets and they refused to budge.

When Olmert publically says, "I'm tired of defending ourselves"...it's only logical that Sederot residents want to flee. I feel bad for them.

The only reson why he will put people down like this is because they will not go back into Gaza it will show the world that the expoltion was a big mistake and they cant admit it even though everyone knows!!

Before we left Lebanon, I spoke to a few left wing friends, who assured me that once we left, if there was even ONE missile, Israel would retaliate heavily. After all, that's a serious attack on a sovereign state.

Before we left Gaza, they said the same thing: Well, the Lebanon situation is very thorny. But Gaza is clear-cut. Even ONE kassam will elicit a huge response from Israel After all, that's a serious attack on a sovereign state.

And here's Pickled Peres, telling us that it's not really a big deal. Kassams, shmassams. One grasps in vain for a commensurate response to his words. The only image my mind can conjure is that of Daffy Duck tossing a lamp away, ignoring the dire warnings of the genie with the flippant: "Consequences, shmonsequences."

I pray that the Sederot problem is resolved way quicker than the one that the northern-border settlements sufferred from for so many years.

I also pray that Peres retire from Israeli politics. Maybe he just go and offer to work for the Palestinians directly. (This would probably help Israel.)

Jameel, even in the "good old days" Israeli civilians did not always remain steadfast under terror. Yemin Moshe in Jerusalem, today a fashionable neighborhood, was depopulated and abandoned to the poorest of Jerusalem residents between 1948 and 1967, when Jordanian snipers fired into the neighborhood.

jameel, you should know better by now. Peres is perfectly justified in critisizing the people of Sderot. After all, they're simply victims of peace!

If Peres hadn't been making stupid statements throughout his career, I'd say he's getting senile in his ripe old age. Nope. No such luck. He's just this much of a bombastic idiot, and that's putting it mildly.-OC